The Female Constable Can't Catch the Thief Who Stole Her Heart

(I love revising my work and overthinking everything. All readers are welcome to reach out, bookmark, or comment. Come watch this introverted, eccentric author rant and roll around.)

In Ji Shu's memories, her childhood friend Fu Zhen was an arrogant young lord raised in luxury.

He once said he would enter government service, serve the people, advance steadily, shelter the whole world, and protect her, too.

But an unjust case that came to nothing crushed him and ground him into the dirt.

When she saw Fu Zhen again, he was an anonymous painter in a dance house, hiding in a lightless room and painting one portrait of a beauty after another. He clung to life, stripped of all the youthful spirit he once had.

He said, "I accept both the crime and the punishment. Now all I ask is to stay alive, nothing more."

But one night, drunk, she stumbled into Fu Zhen's room and discovered that the beauty in the paintings was her.

The frail, shy painter whispered her name again and again, the two syllables of "A Shu" winding through the air and drifting on the wind.

It turned out that Fu Zhen wanted one more thing: her.

(A preview of an upcoming story!)

Possessive romance / melodramatic wish-fulfillment

The female official Wen Zhao was noble and pure, like jade and frost.

In a time of chaos, when everyone feared for their own safety, she alone risked her life, staying in the palace to bide her time. In the end, she helped the empress establish a new dynasty and build a great empire, earning an enduring place in history as the nation's chief minister.

Yet unofficial histories tell a different tale: this female chancellor, Wen Zhao, seemed dignified and upright on the surface, but was secretly a schemer.

Because she hid Ji Yan away.

The tyrannical criminal whom everyone wanted dead: the last emperor of Great Xia.

*

When Ji Yan was emperor, he often drank and indulged in pleasures, staying awake all night.

Now his kingdom was lost and he had no throne to sit on, he could sleep even less.

Fortunately, she was there with him.

He could not hold on to his throne or reclaim his power. All he wanted was to keep Wen Zhao by his side, day and night, for the rest of their lives.

But one day, after drinking too much and sleeping it off with his head among the peonies, he misheard the servants chatting and laughing.

They said Wen Zhao was getting married.

The man was born to a distinguished family, a graceful young gentleman, and as clever as a god.

Nothing like him, a useless drunkard.

That night, he went mad. He poisoned the wine, took a knife, and slashed his wrists again and again, all to force Wen Zhao to drink with him.

Blood ran down, blending with the color of his clothes.

Ji Yan's voice was hoarse with despair. He looked utterly, indescribably pitiful.

"You took my kingdom and seized my place. Now you won't even leave me the tiniest bit of affection?"

"Wen Zhao, you're too cruel to me."

Premise: Cherish the people you love and hold dear.